Crusader Kings II

... But at the present time I don't have $80 to sink into the game and all of its DLCs.Besides the base game, what of the DLCs are necessary or are very worth it to look at first? Or is the base game just fine on its own until I have some more money on hand?

Well I wouldn't say any DLC's are necessary per se. I wouldn't play as a byzantine without the Legacy of Rome DLC but that still leaves alot of other choices. If you are on a budget I would just play the base game and wait until DLC's go on sale or you get tired of playing catholic noblemen and want to try a republic or muslim. The only DLC I would say is not worth buying at all is Sunset Invasion. Portraits, unit packs and songs are also unnecessary play wise (even though I still own most of them), I don't own ruler designer, I prefer to play with the character the game gives me even though people who own it rave about it constantly.

If you really want it, but can’t (or don’t want to) afford everything now, then buy the base game now, and the dlcs during summer sale, if you can wait, then buy the entire package during summer sale.

If you want a DLC right now I would recommend legacy of Rome or the republics, since the Aztec dlc is disliked by many, and the sword of Islam adds hardly anything to the game. In fact you could play the Muslim factions with all their differences and mechanics without the dlcs, by simply adding "playable" in a text file in the order /common/religions. Unfortunately Paradox noticed it and patched that. But since all the features of that dlc used to be available from the release, it seems to me like a rip-off that they just cut it out to sell them for 9.99 (in Europe).As for the other DLCs, I bought them during a weekend sale, but you really don’t need additional music, you can as well use an iPod or whatever to listen to the music you like, the same goes for the additional heraldic symbols. The ruler editor is quite nice, and might be one of the most underrated dlcs, since it allows you to influence the game more than you would think at the first glance, given that it only works when you start a new game to edit the first of your dynasty, but I wouldn’t buy it for full price, and certainly not if I had to choose.

And portraits and unit sprites – well once you play the game you will I doubt you will give a ♥♥♥♥ about them.

I do agree that the retinues and factions added in Legacy of Rome are great, especially the retinues, and greatly improve the base game. So if you can spare the money for that DLC, then get it. But if not, the base game is still huge and complex enough that you may not miss these things. The base game alone gives you a couple hundred hours of awesome playtime. However, if you're patient, just wait for a big sale. I spent less than $20 for the game plus two DLC expansions and the Ruler Designer altogether this way.

Don't buy the game at this present moment. This game goes on sale all the damn time now. No need to blow 40 for the game then piecemeal all the other DLC together when you can get 75% off on everything. I paid full price for everything incase you're wondering.

Wait for a sale and think about buying it then. I own every DLC for this game, and, if I were to recommend this game for a friend, I would tell them to get Sword of Islam first above all else, then, if they actually enjoy the game to get LoR.Everything else really isn't necessary (like all the music and faces DLC packs.)

If you subscribe to some sites, you can get deals on the lot of it, too. From a site (which I wont name since I don't know Steam's policy on such) I was able to get a deal on the entire CK 2 bundle (Game and all DLCs) for $18. A Google search can turn up unseen deals, too, and (at least in my case) the purchase generates codes that can be plugged into Steam to unlock the game.